CYPRUS Law and Practice Contributed by: Kyriacos Scordis and Sofi Mylona, SCORDIS PAPAPETROU & Co LLC
Vessels under construction are registrable in Cyprus. Also, the Government Policy on the Registration of Ships under the Cyprus flag outlines additional requirements and conditions aimed at ensuring safe, secure and efficient shipping while protect - ing the interests of Cyprus ships and their own - ers, charterers, managers and operators. These requirements include the following. • Non-eligibility for registration: (a) ships banned by port state control authorities from entering ports in states party to any memorandum of understand - ing (MoU) on port state control (eg, Paris, Tokyo or Mediterranean MoUs, or the US Coast Guard); (b) ships that have been detained on port state control grounds three or more times in the past two years by signatories to the Paris, Tokyo or Mediterranean MoUs, or the US Coast Guard; and (c) ships built exclusively for inland naviga - tion or intended for such use (eg, in rivers, lakes or canals). • Age limits and registration conditions. • Inspection requirements: (a) the entry inspection and any additional inspections are conducted by surveyors of the SDM at the expense of the regis - tered owner or bareboat charterer; and (b) the entry inspection must occur within three months of provisional or parallel-in registration, or within one month of per - manent registration. 1.5 Temporary Registration of Vessels In Cyprus, the following three types of registra - tion are allowed: • provisional;
• permanent; and • bareboat-charter registration (parallel). Provisional registration of a ship may remain in force for six months. Thereafter, it may be renewed once, for a further three-month period. Dual registration and flagging out are permis - sible in Cyprus. The basis of such types of reg - istration is the bareboat-chartering of a ship by the ship-owner to the charterer on the condition that the respective laws of the underlying regis - try and of the bareboat registry explicitly permit dual registration and contain preventative cove - nants whereby matters relating to ownership and to mortgages over the ship shall be exclusively governed by the laws of the ship’s underlying register. In addition, the bareboat charterer must undertake to maintain the same safety standards on the ship, even if the chosen bareboat regis - ter applies safety standards that are lower than those applied by the ship’s underlying register. 1.6 Registration of Mortgages The Register of Mortgages is entrusted to the Registrar, and contains a description of: • the vessel; • the owner of the vessel; • the particulars of the mortgages registered on the vessel; and • the registered mortgagees. A mortgage against a ship can be registered at any time after the completion of the vessel’s reg - istration under the Cyprus flag. Once created, a mortgage must be deposited with the Registrar or with a consular officer following instructions of the Registrar. Whether deposited with the Reg - istrar or with a consular officer, the mortgage is recorded in the Register as from the date and time of its deposit, and remains an encumbrance
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